This and this and that and that

[susandennis]

Ahhh the memories... canuckgirl is getting her ducks in a row to get road legal in Minnesota. I remember when I first moved there. It was at the end of October with the 1st snow. I had been living in the northeast - New York and then Connecticut and I was not used to clean and tidy and organized and nice. The license place in Rochester was all of these things and it kind of freaked me out. During these years, I moved to a different state every 18 months and I knew the drill. Drop by the office, pick up a booklet, get the skippy on the test. I always had to take the test since I was coming from a different state.

But the nice lady with the very Minnesota accent wouldn't give me a booklet. She said 'you should just take the test now. If you fail it, I'll give you a booklet or you can just take it until you get all the answers correct. ??!! Ohkay...

The next surprise was no papers and pencils... Oh, no. The nice lady directed me over to a kiosk where you looked at a slide and then saw a question about the situation depicted in the slide. You pushed the button corresponding with the right answer.

The first slide came up and showed a car at at stop sign and I was off. But, I soon got snagged. I had never ever seen Minnesota in any month except October. These slides had trees with leaves and flowers and beautiful scenery. I got fascinated by the pictures and totally distracted!

It took me forever but I finally finished and passed and got my license and my license plate. That Summer I got to see the slide show in person. Sadly, it quickly turned too hot to enjoy especially when you were dodging mosquitoes the size of jumbo jets.

I'm listening to the Mariners play baseball. It's so nice to hear the familiar voices of the broadcasters again. Spring training games are always fun because I don't know all the new players yet. They play funny squads anyway. The background sound is so different. And, it really doesn't matter who wins as long as no one gets hurt.

Tomorrow and Sunday will be great for listening. There is nothing like a basball game to work by - more boxing up and tossing out for me.

I been having a debate in my head all day. I have a storage area downstairs off the garage near where I park my car. It's a kind of cage in a room of other cages. It's probably 8 feet by 3 feet. And it's pretty full. Of stuff I have not even seen in more than a year.

I honestly do not thing I'll be needed my wooden tennis racket again. Ever. Or the pants stretchers that crease your wet pants as they dry on the clothesline. Etc. 8x3's worth.

But, there's a problem. I can't breathe down there. Really. I do not have allergies. I have no medical problems of any kind (that I know of) and have not had for years and years and years. But, when I go into that storage area - even long enough to grab one thing and get out - I get a coughing fit that is horrible. I really cannot catch a good breath. It's kind of scary.

It first happened about a year and a half ago. Then about six months ago I tried again - same thing only worse. Last month, I had the building manager check the room and he said it was fine plus no one else had said anything - there are lots of other storage cages in the same room.

There is nothing down there that I actually need or even really want I think. So I have basically just ignored the problem.

But this morning there was a notice on the bulletin board. One of the other unit owners is looking to rent extra storage space.

I started thinking why not make my storage are into a revenue source? But, then I'd have to clean it out. How am I going to do that when I can't get in there? And what if I need it? And do I want to mess with renting it?

As I'm typing this I'm coming up with a plan... I could rent my storage space to them and in return for the first 2 months' rent, they move everything out of there so I can either toss it or give it away. They could put the stuff by my car or in it for that matter. Hmmmm I think I'll call 'em when I get home if the sign is still there. Hmmmm.

Today I discovered that Gamehouse games is now owned by Real Networks. Gamehouse games I located in the same building as PAR3 - 1/2 block from my house. I like their games. I always figured that one day, I'd work for them. I do not want to work for Real Networks. Oh well.